Shadow in the Mind
by The Final Lament
Summary: Sequal to ShadowoftheNightWorld and SmallWorld:  Shadow's death was just a precursor of things to come. With allies falling on all sides and with a coup occuring within the NightWorld itself which of the fragmenting sides will survive.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: And here we have the final (I hope) fic in the trilogy (probably).

Disclaimer: I don't own the Night World novels but Holly and Shadow – may he rest in peace - are both mine.

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As music blared around him Redfern watched the casket like a hawk. Despite the many checks he couldn't find it in himself to believe that Shadow would do the decent thing and stay dead. Around him Nightworlders watched each other with the general hostility of a honey badger.

Each one of the Elders and bodyguards had been thoroughly searched for weapons, nevertheless Hunter knew almost all of them had something up their sleeve. Metaphorically and literally. Take Holly for instance. He knew for a fact that the guest of honour had a handgun built almost entirely from ceramics somewhere about her person whilst the witch next to her probably – from the way she kept shifting uncomfortably and wincing – had garrotte wire sown into her dress and The Rose was practically a walking armoury; although in that case it was because the guards had been to scared to ask for her weapons. Personally he couldn't stand violence, or at least violence he had to commit himself.

Holly also watched the casket, her eyes tinged with regret, the only thing stopping the tears was self-control. And Shadow's sense of humour. Despite the natural sadness of the occasion – for her at least – she couldn't suppress a slight chuckle. Really the man was impossible, noone else she knew could have planned their funeral down to the last detail. Her eyes still fixed on the coffin she allowed herself to relax slightly as she listened to the music he'd selected.

"And when I snuff it bury me quickly then let carousels begin." sang the record. It was the tenth song so far, each showing a complete lack of mourning; very much how Shadow would have wanted it.

Taking her eyes off the coffin for a few moments she watched the last of the guests arrived. A small group of nervous humans who were looking so out of their depth that the fish had lights. She remembered Shadow talking about them once. Apparently they'd helped him build the warehouses mainframe.

"Enjoying the occasion?" said a voice in her ear. She didn't even have to turn.

"Shouldn't you be in your seat Redfern?" She replied coldly. She could tell he was smirking behind her.

"Most unusual don't you think. That the corpse is the most heavily armed among us, makes you wonder if he's actually dead."

"He's dead alright. It's a token gesture on his part. He always had a flair for theatrics. Now if you will excuse me I need to give the eulogy."

Holly could feel his eyes boring into her as she ascended the podium. Shuffling the papers nervously she tapped the mike. It was working.

"Honoured Elders. We are gathered here today to say goodbye to one of the greatest threat we have ever known. A man who commanded more fear than any of us assembled here today. Now he has, even now, a few words for us."

Holly calmed herself before speaking. "Thank you for coming here today. I have had the great honour and privilege of calling many of you my friends and enemies. A rare few of you both. I want it known to all that I never killed out of hate, arrogance, revenge or bigotry, I always swore the day I killed someone and could not provide a non-emotive reason would be the day I hung up my swords. Going by the fact this is being read out that day never came. I do not want to be remembered and it would gladden me if the world were to forget I ever existed, do not mourn my passing in any way, it was my time and I most likely was happy at the end. Which brings me to my will. Forty percent of my wealth is to go to whoever is credited with killing me. Half my wealth and all property assets, shares and patents are to go to the vampire I knew as Holly Mayborn." Holly's voice trailed off as her mind comprehended what she'd just said.

"The– the– the remainder of my wealth is to be split equally between the members of the 1337 G4m3r5 group who, against all odds, managed to make me computer literate. And now I would like to give a few personal notes to various members of the crowd. My first message goes to Hunter Redfern, a man who's mind is..."

The music changed, Holly recognised it instantly – Verdi's Requiem Dies Irae – it was all the warning she needed. She dived off the platform rolling to her feet and ran for the exit.

She never made it in time, the crunch of breaking wood echoed through the dome as a fist broke through the coffin. With a mighty kick the lid flew off and the impossible rose from it's confines.

Shadow stepped out of his coffin guns blazing. He emptied each gun;s magazine into the front row. Throwing away the automatic weapons he unholstered two handguns as the assembled Elders and their bodyguards went for their weapons.

One particularly cunning vampire had managed to sneak in a small crossbow. However this only served to make him a priority target. From across the room Shadow blew his brains out.

Anyone else with a potentially long range weapon quickly met the same fate until a werewolf – having changed while Shadow was preoccupied leapt at the armoured human.

Shadow turned, dropping his guns and lifted a hand up into the werewolf's path. Electricity arced from his fingers leaving the acrid scent of burnt fur and ionisation heavy in the air.

Holly watched in fear and amazement as her friend slaughtered his way through the room, sparing a choice few. She'd never seen him this bloodthirsty, or this dramatic. Despite the gravity of the situation she laughed when she figured it out: the funeral was being televised. Shadow was showboating for the camera!

"Do something! Stop him!" Redfern urgently hissed from beside her, fear painted on his face as another of his bodyguards was casually beheaded by Shadow's backswing as his other blade buried itself into the skull of a shapeshifter.

"Do I look suicidal? The moment I move in his direction I will be killed. It's that simple."

Running out of Elders to kill Shadow turned his attention to the cowering duo.

Advancing with all the authority of a blood-drenched god he stood in front of Redfern.

"This was all to get a clear shot at you, ya know. That demonstration of yours was the step too far, I could kill from dawn to sunset for the rest of my natural life and I would still not have as much blood on my hands as you have. I'm sorry Redfern, but this is your time to die."

"I thought you didn't do revenge?" Redfern croaked.

"This isn't revenge Hunter. It's surgery."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thanks for the positive response, looking back I can see how far I've come. Seriously, someone read either my spyro fic or my twilight fic. I used to be R-U-B-B-I-S-H. However this fic was written at two in the morning and is bordering on an exercise in the inspirational qualities of sleep deprivation.

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Shadow looked down upon the corpse before meeting Holly's gaze. Slowly he sheathed his blades and holstered his gun. Across the hall the survivors watched intently as the cameras streamed the events around the world.

"You are still a Reaper I believe?" There was a nod. "Then I surrender."

Palms open for all to see he got down on his knees and put his hands on his head. Looking vaguely shellshocked and with mild grumbling about a waste of a good dress she tore off most a sleeve and prepared to bind his hands. It never happened, there was a metallic click from behind Shadow. A gun being cocked.

"I'll take it from here." The gun barked twice, loud, high caliber. Nothing like the more subtle weapons Shadow favoured.

Holly collapsed, the bullets removing her ability to walk as the shooter put two in her kneecaps.

"Turn. Slowly." Shadow could almost feel the barrel of the gun, an unseen presence just centimetres from his skull.

"I will need to stand." He said.

"Then do so. Slowly. Any funny business and I put a bullet in your head."

"Understood."

Now he was facing her he couldn't hold back a gasp, he didn't know what it was but he had an irrational urge to just hold her and never let her go. It didn't make sense.

"Now walk, the north door."

"No." Shadow's voice was soft but less yielding than an industrial ceramic. "Who are you and what are you doing to me?"

"I am the Rose. And I have no idea what you mean but if you don't desist attacking my mind then I will shoot you." 

"I'm not a telepath."

"And I'm not doing anything."

"Most curious." Shadow's hands were no longer behind his head, instead held up in the universal sign for surrender. "I do hope my suspicions are wrong as it would make what I'm about to do most awkward."

"Don't try anything. I will kill you."

"So you keep saying but I doubt you can stop me doing... this." Shadow pressed his thumbs into his palms. The circuit completed. Electricity burst out of his hands catching the Rose in the chest.

It's a well known fact that air is a poor conductor. To get electricity through air it takes a lot of power. And and low ampage that leads to a lot of heat. Enough to kill a vampire if the contact is prolonged.

It was therefore such a shame that some of the circuitry chose that moment to melt.

Nevertheless the Rose was thrown backwards off her feet. She rolled backwards to her feet, the gun coming up. Shadow was already on her, kicking the gun from her hand. The Rose recovered quickly though and blocked each strike he threw. Punches not working Shadow switched styles, sweeping low – which was jumped easily as Shadow expected – before spinning into a high roundhouse aimed for her jaw. She ducked the kick and drove a fist at Shadow's stomach, it hit the braced muscle. She never got to pull it back as Shadow grabbed it, pulling it straight as he drove his other hand into the elbow to break it. In an unbelievable display of flexibility and agility Rose actually managed to backflip which meant Shadow was driving his hand into the joint rather than against it. Pulling her arm free she punched him open handed in the chest. One of Shadow's favourite attacks ironically.

The body armour absorbed the otherwise fatal blow but forced Shadow backwards. He regained his balance in an instant but it was all the time Rose had needed to draw a knife. Ducking and weaving Shadow avoided the weapon, trying to buy the time needed to unsheathe a weapon of his own. Finally she lunged forwards stabbing the knife into his chest. The blade broke on one of the chest plates that formed the third layer of the armour. Now it was The Rose's turn to back off. With snake-like speed she managed to grab his wrist, pressing her fingers into a pressure point. Shadow dropped the blade, recoiling despite himself. Rose used the gap created to punch Shadow twice in the gut.

Staggering away, he fought to regain his breath. Even braced for it the punches had winded him.

He staggered sideways, narrowly avoiding another blow. On the third stagger the Rose kicked him in the ankle. The sound of breaking bone was unmistakeable. Despite this Shadow stayed on his feet through force of will if nothing else. Drunken Fist had failed.

He caught the next punch and pulled her in, keeping her close. Drawing his handgun he emptied the entire clip into her stomach angling the gun upwards. He discarded the gun and punched her as hard as he could in the gut. She doubled over, the next punch caught her in the jaw, the kick that followed dislocated her knee. Yet the blow to the throat never connected.

Shadow stared in astonishment at the knife that had just been thrust through his hands, his fingertips less than an inch from the Rose's throat. If it had connected the blow would have finished the fight.

The bullet wounds were healing but the knee wouldn't, and nor would Shadow's ankle. Struggling to stand the fight changed again, no finesse, no fancy strikes or combos. Just a brawl. Biting, scratching, punching. Somehow the Rose got on top of him and drove his head repeatedly into the floor. Drawing upon his reserves now Shadow flipped her off of him with his knee and got to his feet, gritting his teeth.

Calmly he drew both katanas from his back. The blades arced towards his foe and were met by a sleek falchion. The Rose drove Shadow slowly back across the room, ignoring the pain in her leg and managing through incredible self control to stop her leg buckling beneath her.

Never had Shadow been so outmatched. With a flick of the wrist one of his swords was sent flying from his hand. In just a few seconds it was over. His second sword torn from his grasp Shadow stared transfixed at the tip of the sword hovering just inches from his adam's apple.

The Rose set to work. First she broke his arms, dislocated both wrists and shoulders. Broke the other ankle, dislocated the knees, the fingers, leaving Shadow a helpless mess on the floor.

"I told you not to try anything."


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Shadow seems to have found himself in a spot of bother. Oh dear. Anyone taking bets on how many interrogators are going to die?

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><p>The Rose watched from behind the glass as the vampire slowly ceased struggling and lay still. Shadow snapped his neck to make sure, before slowly collapsing as the anaesthetic gas finally knocked him out.<p>

It was the fifth escape attempt in as many days, every single one had proven fatal for one of the guards. It had got to the point where people were refusing to guard the interrogation room.

Glaring furiously she rounded on one of the observers.

"I do believe you described the bindings as escape proof, correct?"

"Uh... yes?"

"Then please explain why the prisoner just succeeded in killing yet another guard?"

"I have no idea. Ma'am. But with your permission I would like to find out exactly how he escaped."

"Again? I would like to remind you that this is the fifth time you have given these same assurances." The glare she was levelling at him would have made gorgons proud.

"We have _never_ had to contain someone quite as... proficient at escaping. What he's done should be impossible, the last set of manacles he got out of are designed to restrain morphed werewolves for God's sake!"

"See to it it doesn't happen again, because next time he gets out we will be terminating your employment."

"Understood." He said weakly.

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><p>Shadow woke slowly and groggily, same as every time they knocked him out with the gas. Blinking tears from his eyes furiously he bleerily saw the face of The Rose. Despite himself he smiled; and hated himself for it..<p>

"So..." He said cheerily. "They've finally decided to put someone competent on guard I see."

"Flattery will get you nothing." The Rose said calmly, yet inside the compliment made her heart soar much to her annoyance.

"How long was I out?" He flexed his arms and was completely unsurprised by the lack of give in the steel manacles which had him bound to the chair.

"Roughly ten hours, now considering this is the first time we've spoken since your arrival I want you to know a few things."

"Fire away hot stuff." The glare only caused his grin to widen, thirty seconds and he was already under her skin. Result.

"We have your accomplices in custody -" She started.

"I bloody well doubt it." Shadow commented with a snort of disbelief.

"- including the vampire Holly." The Rose continued, ignoring Shadow's remarks.

"Accomplice? Holly?" He burst out laughing. "Dupe more like."

"Do go on?" The Rose said her voice sickeningly sweet in a style very much similar to a number of carnivorous plants.

"I always knew Holly was working for the late Mr. Redfern, why do you think the only poison in the... house that would work on humans had _just_ enough to be barely sub-lethal."

"I think you're bullshitting Shadow, just trying to get her out of trouble."

"Think whatever you like, just know that when I get out of here I'm going to kill you, and unless you kill me soon there is no force on this planet that will stop me." Shadow braced himself and strained against the restraints. Rose couldn't help stepping back as the metal arm of the chair bent slightly.

As he strained further she went for the door, out of it in seconds.

Shadow had managed to get a single hand free, by snapping the arm of the chair, when he heard the gas hissing into the room, taking a deep breath before the room could fill he began to free the other arm, he put a hand in his mouth, removing the brace from his teeth and used it to unscrew the the shackles clamping his legs to the chair. He fervently hoped he wouldn't get captured this time as he was pretty sure they'd remove the brace on his bottom teeth now they knew they were just for show.

He jogged to the side of the room with the door than sprinted at the glass screen from which they were no doubt laughing at what seemed a fruitless. Having built up speed he leapt driving his foot into the glass. It didn't move an inch.

Then again it wasn't meant to. Using the foot as a springboard he shot upwards knocking out a ceiling panel, very thankful that the gas was heavier than air and also, as it had been installed specifically to contain him, the release was built into the floor to avoid compromising the integrity of the ceiling. He swiftly pulled himself up into the small space. He could afford a brief wait as they no doubt expected him to go immediately for either a weapons room or an exit.

He already had all the weapons he needed, not that he'd object to a firearm. Gritting his teeth he drove one of his nail into the back of his hand, sliding it back to create a long cut which began to weep blood. Forcing his fingers into the wound he pulled out the small knife implanted there.

He crawled forwards a few metres ignoring the pain of his hand and his not quite fully healed ankles. He kicked in a tile and dropped into the control. Wreaking carnage in seconds, ironically it turned out they'd locked the door to keep him out. It didn't prevent him shattering the lock with a powerful snap-kick.

Drawing a gun he'd removed from one of the corpses he wondered where to go next, if Holly was here then should he attempt a rescue? Probably not, if they were caught then they would surely think she was guilty. Track down the Rose? Again a bad idea considering she'd beaten him even when he was uninjured and especially dumb considering the other 'complication'.

So escape it was.

He set off at a sprint, things were looking up and freedom beckoned. Setting off at a sprint he couldn't help cursing his luck as the squad of Reapers rounded the corner, levelling their rifles in his direction in split-seconds.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: I'd like to give a big thankyou to Paranormalcy who has constantly reviewed and provided (even if unknowingly) a firm moral support. Knowing that someone enjoys reading what I write makes it all feel worth it. So thankyou for your consistent reviewing of both this fic and it's predecessor.

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It was rather small meeting as meetings went. A few select specialists seated around the table, a single topic of discussion.

"How do we break him?" The Rose demanded coldly. She leaned back into her chair as the arguing started, content to listen in the hope that a few good ideas might surface before they started actually listening to what they were saying.

Anarchy, confusion and shouting in general reigned for a few minutes. The Rose quietly cleared her throat, the silence was absolute.

"Now suggestions?"

"Well most forms of physical torture are out, the subject has demonstrated a high pain threshold and has proven lethal to the interrogator." One pointed out.

"No arguments there." The Rose commented, "So where does that leave us?"

"Got to be some form of psychological or perhaps a strong telepath providing you just want information." suggested another

"Information will do for now. Now what do we know about him that we can use?"

Anarchy descended again, it didn't matter to her, an idea was already beginning to take form.

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Shadow sat, meditating. He'd met a guy once, a non-telepath, who'd honed his mind to such an extent he'd been able to lash out with it, he'd seen him smash through a brick wall with it once. Even now, the best part of a decade later, Shadow had never figured it out. He'd met another who'd been able to see a second into the future, he hadn't figured that out either.

There were things even the Night World didn't understand when it came to the power of the mind.

Shadow didn't seek either ability, his meditation was an expression of self. After nineteen years of life, almost a decade of them fighting tooth and nail to preserve it, he had found peace. And nothing the Night World concocted would rob him of it. At least that was the theory.

So far they'd tried depriving him of food and water, although they'd relented on the fourth day when, nearly dead, he still hadn't talked.

Since then it had been a week since he'd seen another sentient creature, his food arrived when he was asleep and it was up to him to make it last the day. That wouldn't work either, loneliness had never been a factor that concerned him. He preferred to be a recluse. Except. And this was the part he loathed himself for, he would give almost anything to see The Rose once more

Footsteps outside, the first in a week. He stood at rapt attention, no doubt whatever they'd come up with this time would prove interesting. He wouldn't react though.

It took him all of five seconds to break that particular promise to himself as she walked through the door.

It was the first genuine smile since his almost escape.

"Holly!" Shadow pulled her into a crushing embrace. "Are they treating you ok?"

Holly's only answer was to try and rip his throat out with her teeth. Almost in shock Shadow only just managed to stop her, forcing her head to the side so her chin was on his shoulder. Thinking fast Shadow fell backwards, grabbing Holly's shirt and placing a foot in her stomach, pulling her over the top of him, she cartwheeled out easily.

Rolling to his feet he gazed into her eyes, and not seeing Holly in them at all. They'd locked him in a room with a blood starved vampire in the hope he'd be traumatised by having to kill his friend, it was a wonderfully flawed plan, as he wouldn't mind Holly draining him of blood he just knew she'd feel terrible about it when she snapped out of it.

"You don't want to do this Holly." He soothed. She lunged for him, but in her bloodthirsty state wasn't able to prevent him putting her in a headlock. Then he pressed his wrist to her mouth, holding back a wince as her teeth sunk in.

As Holly drank her fill Shadow turned his gaze to the clear screen where The Rose was no doubt observing. The message was clear: You lose this round.

From behind the glass The Rose took a last look at the cell before stalking off to schedule a new meeting.

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After Holly had drunk a couple of pints Shadow had pried her, unresisting, from his arm. Regaining herself she'd immediately put her arms around his waist and sobbed out an apology for trying to kill him – again.

He'd kissed her on the forehead and then they'd said their goodbyes as the guards – the plan having backfired – returned her to her cell.

Leaving a blood loss induced slightly lightheaded Shadow to his thoughts. Which were focused on one vampire in particular. The Rose was proving something of a problem. Shadow had talked at length with a number of people who had experienced the phenomenon. None of it helped, no matter what was going on the facts were simple, one of them would have to kill the other. No compromises. No mercy.

A somewhat crude plan of action thought out Shadow settled down against the most comfortable part of the wall to sleep while the other side of the building The Rose paced fitfully about her office wondering how to break a man who had no weaknesses. It was ironic in it's own way, the prisoner comfortable and at peace whilst the jailor was nearing their wit's end. But it didn't matter, Shadow was right; when the time came there would be no mercy.

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Author's Note: And that's that, thought it was time I reintroduced Holly and extrapolated somewhat on The Rose, yes part of her name is really The. I just couldn't resist, it was all I could do not to give Shadow a cricket ball or a harmonica.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Is it a bad sign being envious of your character?

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Shadow blocked the cross and ducked the overzealous swing as the werewolf lost his temper. As he lunged Shadow grabbed his wrist and pulled him off balance and sweeping the leading foot. Grinning he took a firm grip on the werewolf's throat and applied gentle pressure on the artery, letting go before the werewolf fell unconscious.

Shadow stepped back and helped him up.

"Look Nite, you're a good fight but you must control your temper, you just get too frustrated when fighting a defensive fighter. Now I know they're annoying but you need to remember that all they're trying to do is force you to make a mistake – so don't give them any."

Around them a number of fights burnt out as one side or another reached victory with only a few combatants still punching, kicking, elbowing, headbutting, strangling and gouging their way through their opponents.

Now that Shadows own bout was over his eyes settled on Holly who was currently involved in a ten man strong free-for-all in the centre. Her eyes met his, Holly gave a brief nod. It was all the permission he needed.

Forcing his way into the middle of the melee he struck out, knocking one man unconscious, a brutal kick dislocated another's knee. As he became a serious threat to those around him they focused on him, a big mistake as Holly knocked one vampire out with a quick cross. One jabbed an arm forwards, the fingertips intended to rendezvous with his throat, it didn't even get close, casually bending the arm Shadow popped the joint with an elbow expansion.

The fighting died down quickly as the rest of the them were incapacitated in short order. Smiling warmly Holly and Shadow embraced, kissed, then took each other to the floor as they attempted to choke the life out of each other.

Everyone ignored the couple on the floor, instead beginning to see to the painful business of putting joints back in place and waking up those out for the count. A few watched amused wondering which one would remain conscious. It didn't matter in the long run.

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It was the after-brawl meal and most of the inmates were in good spirits. It had been two months since Holly and Shadow's reunion, since then they'd been moved to a new maximum security wing.

At the time they'd been the only inmates, now the prison was filled with the most dangerous humans and nightworlders in existence, fifty of them for the moment. One way in, one way out.

Holly simply sat and watched while Shadow ate. As prisoners went they were all being treated quite well, good food, decent living conditions, the only thing lacking was entertainment. Hence the fighting, it helped alleviate the boredom, kept them fit and allowed them to hone their skills until they escaped.

Except they weren't going to escape. They were a quarter of a mile below ground with the only way out being a door made of three inch thick carbon steel and specially ensorcelled to burn any inmate who touched it. And even if they did somehow overpower the guards – two squads of Reapers who changed shifts with another two squads every three hours -and took the neutralising charms they would still have to climb up the lift shift – which had been assessed by two inmates with freeclimbing experience as outright lethal – and after that there was the aboveground facility to deal with which as they'd all been unconscious upon arrival noone had a clue about, they wouldn't even know about it if a few – Shadow amongst them – had been taken up for interrogation.

There was no escape. A few had come to accept it, a few had gone mad, most simply refused to accept. Much to Shadow's disappointment Holly could be included in the latter rather than the former.

Personally Shadow had come to accept the impossibility of an unassisted escape. His incarceration had provided him with not only peace but also clarity of thought. It had been at the last interrogation that he'd finally voiced his conclusions, the memory was almost enough to drive a spike of purest rage through his tranquility.

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"You used me."

The Rose looked up from her notes. "And?"

"And this is just the beginning isn't it. You forced the takeover, you manipulated Redfern to commit the massacre, all to get me to kill him. Oh, the fear you must have created, so many Elders dead, let me guess. I escaped and am still at large. That's the story you would have gone for. A beautiful reason to tighten security and increase patrol and Reaper authority. And once you've cemented it you'll catch me and throw me into the light of day for the world to see. Dead of course, can't risk me talking." Shadow paused for a moment as he mulled over his next sentence. "I played right into your hands but the question is what are you doing it for? Control? Power? All of those and more I expect. You're going to dissolve the Council of Elders and make the Reapers the ultimate authority, and then as head of the Reapers you'll be the most powerful person on the planet."

Shadow stopped for a second giving The Rose a chance to respond. She looked up again. "Keep going, you've almost got it all."

Shadow thought for a moment. "It'll be gradual, slow increases in military power, propaganda and mild brainwashing, and the beauty of it is you can afford to wait, you've got eternity to cement your power, given time the only ones who might notice are the vampires and the shapeshifters, and you'll kill the old ones, a suicide here, a tragic accident there, and you can take as long as you need as long as you keep the other species in check. Centuries, millenia, it honestly doesn't matter to you. And it's my fault, Redfern would never have gone that far and Redfern controlled the Council, you never could have got anyone close enough without showing your hand so you got me to do it for you."

Shadow stopped. The Rose stood, clapping, a slow mocking clap. "Well done Shadow. I think we've made a lot of progress, is there anything else you wish to say? How much you hate me? How I'll never get away with it? Or any of the other cliched lines would-be-heroes enjoy so much? Except you're not the hero, as far as the rest of the world is concerned that's me, bravely fighting you off, although I wasn't fast enough to save poor Hunter's life. You're the criminal here." She waited until her patience – outpaced by her ego – grew thin. "Well, is there anything else?"

"Id like to go back to my cell now." Shadow said softly, walking to the door. "No need to send the guards along, I know the way."

The Rose let him go. She had her victory, she may not have got Shadow to talk but she'd broken his spirit. Leaning back into her chair she basked in the knowledge that she, and she alone, had defeated him a way no other being could.

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Author's Note: Hope the big reveal wasn't too boring, dialogue has never been my strong point hence the fight scene at the start.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: At long last I'm branching out into characters that I'm not going to kill off imminently.

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"Now today class we'll be learning about fighting in the real world, which means none of that fancy kung fu nonsense we're all so fond of. Sadly we are missing most of the perennial favourites, the pool table, the broken beer bottle and, of course, the lamppost. There are however still things we can do. Now if Holly would be so kind as to assist me..." Shadow directed to an enraptured prison as Holly stepped towards him, only struggling lightly as he grabbed her by the hair, twisted his wrist to firm up the grip then drove her face repeatedly into the wall before letting go, blood pouring from her nose.

"Now in those rare cases where a wall isn't available the floor works just as well, although you do have to bring them to the floor first. Remember to twist your wrist to get your fingers firmly entrenched into the hair." Shadow explained as Holly glared up at him, her nose already healed.

"Now in the interests of fairness and retribution I think it's only fair that Holly give the next demonstration."

The watching inmates chuckled slightly, Shadow had been right about one thing, most of them had never got beyond the martial arts stage of fighting, which was fine when the other person was trying to use martial arts as well, and utterly useless when they were trying to brain you with an eight ball.

Shadow lay down on the floor as Holly got on top of him and began her demonstration.

"At extreme close quarters everything is a weapon, biting can be very effective for example." Shadow let out a pained yelp as Holly sunk her teeth into his shoulder before continuing her speech. "The throat or the face are particularly painful and in the case of the throat potentially lethal. Nails can also be used effectively, remember pain is very effective, the body's natural reaction is to try and get away from it." Holly scratched a few deep gouges into Shadow's face, her eyes afire with amusement.

With some difficulty Shadow pushed her off of him and got back to his feet.

"Now considering any further demonstrations are likely to have me or Holly do some permanent damage to each other I think I'll just explain the rest. One popular method when your opponent is down is to stamp on their fingers, while this isn't quite as effective as a strangle or armlock it is a lot quicker and can break or dislocate the fingers. That is the general idea here, improvising. Now I want you all to pair up and practice, and please try not to kill each other." Shadow finished his explanation.

As the fighting erupted Shadow walked over to one of the few seats, miraculously unobstructed by the beginnings of the brawl. Holly joined him momentarily.

"I thought that went well." he remarked as he watched Nite slam Nyx face first into the wall.

"Did you have to slam me into the wall quite that hard?" Holly asked, more for the sake of repartee than any actual grievance.

"Is that a trick question?"

"Maybe."

Shadow let out a light chuckle. "Rumour has it we've got two new prisoners coming in today, what've you heard off the guards?"

"Political prisoners apparently."

Shadow's laugh was utterly humourless. "I doubt they would be put in here if they were just political prisoners. What else did you hear?"

Holly nodded, taking a brief glance at the brawl before speaking. "Pair of slayers, real bigshots only overshadowed by your dashing self."

"Got to be more than just slayers to get into this place, gotta be real good to get a ticket here." Shadow pointed out, trying to recline into the seat and failing utterly as the failed to budge in inch, not surprising seeing as it was thick steel with the bottom cemented to the floor.

Holly smiled. "What happened to the cold, cynical, ruthless bastard I fell in love with?" 

"He found inner peace."

"Think Rose is going to schedule one of those stupid introductions meetings she loves so much?" Holly asked, guessing the answer but doublechecking with the one person in the prison with a close insight into the head Reaper's mind.

"Almost definitely, a small one though. She never brings out the full welcome wagon for slayers, likely just us, Nite, Switchblade and Cobra. With a psychic on hand in case one of us drops our guard."

"Planning to drop your guard? I hear the last one's still recovering." Holly giggled.

"Nah, it's annoying though. Psycho's doing a lecture on the combat applications of telepathy." Shadow complained with regret.

"I'm sure you'll cope. Honestly, you're like a hippo staking it's territory sometimes."

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><p><p>

"Hello, my name is Nite and I'm a political dissident."

"My name is Switchblade and I killed a load of Reapers."

"My name is Cobra and I'm here because the bastards were afraid of what I could do."

"I'm Shadow and as you already know, I'm all of the above."

"My name is Holly and I'm an ex-Reaper."

From the corner The Rose smirked as the five of them glared at her, if there weren't rifles levelled at them they would be on her in a second.

"I'm The Cat and this here is-"

"Redfern, John Redfern."

"We were part of the militant arm of Daybreak." Rashel finished.

Shadow yawned before piping up insolently, "Ok, we're all introduced. Can you lock us back up, I'm bored."

The Rose scowled. "Take them back down."

They all got up and headed for the door when Shadow felt a near crushing grip on his shoulder.

"But not you. I think you and I should have another of our little talks." Her grin could only be described as predatory.

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><p><p>

Author's Note: Going to be two weeks until the next update. Or in other words the next update will be on the first of September. This is to allow a huge update across nearly all fics in an attempt to get 500 readers in a single day. As always please R&R.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: And Shadow is back! Well technically he was never gone but you know what I mean.

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"What happened to you?" Holly remarked as Shadow was escorted back into cell block at gun point, clutching his head.

"Two hours interrogation by one of their stronger psychics. Now please someone either give me a paracetamol or a bullet." He answered, only half-joking.

"I think Hair-trigger's been hoarding painkiller's again, be back in a minute." Holly rushed off.

"Hair-trigger?" Rashel asked incredulously. "That's someone's name?"

"Not a name as such, Cat, you'll find more pseudonyms than names in here. But you'd know all about that wouldn't you... Redfern?"

Quinn's glare spoke a thousand words.

"I'm not criticising, John, you're using the power that comes with the name. Which is why you're in here. You decided to spar in the political ring only to find that someone's been changing all the rules." Shadow said calmly.

Holly came hurrying back with two paracetamol which Shadow accepted gratefully.

"Rashel? Could I have a word in private please?" Shadow asked, gripping her elbow and gently pulling her away from the others.

Once alone he turned to her, his expression earnest and hopeful.

"I'm afraid I have some rather personal questions for you. How did you first react when you found your soulmate?"

Rashel thought for a minute. "At the time? Irrationally, I allowed a lethal vampire to escape when I could have finished him off quite easily. Why?"

"I- I may have found my soulmate." The last thing Shadow had expected was for Rashel to pull him into a hug.

"Congratulations! Who is it?"

"The Rose." Shadow said bleakly, not surprised but slightly annoyed when Rashel recoiled at the announcement.

"I'm sorry Shadow but she's still the enemy even if you are soulmates."

"I know. Which is why I've got to be the one who kills her."

The look of disgust on Rashel's face spoke volumes.

"I'm not going to enjoy it, but it has to be done and the fact I know and she doesn't gives me the edge that means I'm the _only_ person who can kill her. It's got to be me." Shadow explained, apparently unconcerned that he was discussing the cold-blooded murder of the one person on the planet his soul was bound to.

"You'll go insane." Rashel warned.

Shadow smiled bleakly. "I've been insane for a long time, my dear Cat. And I will not have my mind dictated to by a freak occurrence of telepathobiology."

"Is that what this is about? Control?"

Shadow's laughed was utterly humourless. "Do I look so shallow? I only ever kill because killing is the only way to remove her sort of killer from the face of the planet. They can't be imprisoned, they can't be rehabilitated, they're like a rabid animal, you feel sorry for them but the amount of damage they would do leaves you no choice but to put them down. Don't think I'm going to do this lightly, I hate killing but I will be saving more lives by doing this than I have taken in my entire career. That woman is a cold-blooded, megalomaniacal sociopath. So no this isn't about control."

Shadow walked away briskly, leaving a slightly shellshocked Rashel to her thoughts, calmly he walked up to Holly.

"We escape in seven days, make sure everyone is ready."

Author's Note: An extremely short chapter I know, this is because the next chapter will be a mega-fight scene so expect over 2000 words.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Well here it is. The crowning chapter of the fic. (Probably)

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><p><p>

Five hours to the escape and everyone was on edge, even the Reapers noticed the difference despite the long months of calm and complacency in the knowledge they could gun down any would be escapee long before they reached the door.

Shadow on the other hand, was a vision of calm, at least on the outside. Rising from his seat he walked over to the Reapers table, their guns came up in a second. Shadow, arms raised and hands open kept walking.

"Turn around prisoner." Their sergeant ordered.

"Don't worry guys, this isn't an escape attempt. I just wanted to talk." Shadow replied placatingly.

"Return to your section of the room prisoner. You will not be warned again."

Shadow smirked. Before The Fall the Reapers were truly fighters to be feared. Now though they had grown smug and overconfident, the once cold and heartless mindset replaced by ego.

Shadow levelled his gaze into the sergeant's eyes before speaking, people tended to find the unblinking glare offputting. "I don't think you want to hurt me. The Rose would be most upset." He stated, the malice in his voice as unmistakeable as the threat.

The guns dropped, The Rose carried more fear than mere death. With little choice they could only watch as Shadow took a seat at the table.

Four hours until the escape. The guard had changed, and soon accepted Shadow's presence at their table.

Three hours and Shadow was catching a brief bit of sleep.

Two hours and everyone was almost going crazy with restlessness and the guards were on a hair-trigger, everyone's nerves at breaking point.

One hour till the escape. Dinner. Albeit at eleven at night, sleeping schedules not overly important when you never got to see the sun.

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Shadow watched the clock as the seconds ticked away. Ten. He stood up, as everyone around him did likewise. Nine. They all turned to towards the door. Eight. The guards noticed. Seven. The guns came up as they began advancing. Six. Five. The sergeant shouted out a warning. Four. Three. The order to open fire. Two. The empty click as the guns failed to fire, Shadow having palmed the firing pins hours ago. One. One of the Reapers dived for the panic button on the wall as the prisoners broke into a run. As the clock finally struck midnight, Shadow's sense for the dramatic shining through as always, they made contact with the two squads.

Faced with almost a hundred lethal fighters the twenty Reapers were overwhelmed in seconds, not even having time to draw their close quarters weapons.

Unfortunately noone had been fast enough to stop the one Reaper who'd gone for the panic button.

With a pneumatic hiss the steel doors slammed shut.

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"Do you think you can do it?" Shadow asked quietly.

"Of course, it's only five inches of steel composite. Give me... two minutes." Knuckles replied calmly. The shapeshifter cracked it's knuckles as the other prisoners stepped back apprehensively. Shadow watched fascinated, while he knew the technical side of magic, both scientific and practical, he simply could not understand how shapeshifters could do what they do although if forced to guess he'd say it involved rearranging molecules of the sixteen organic elements as well as with trace minerals in the body. How they achieved this he hadn't a clue. Or how they could turn into creatures much large or smaller than themselves.

Still it was amazing to watch as the shapeshifter, an expert safe cracker with a particularly unusual methodology, formed thick bone plates around it's hands, thick diamond studs forming over the knuckles; diamond was after all just another form of carbon, the base element of nearly all known life.

With the grin of someone who's job was also their hobby, Knuckles, living up to his pseudonym, punched the steel door creating a thick dent. A second punch warped the metal further.

Realising that even with the shapeshifter's unique method it was going to take at least a couple of minutes, Shadow stood back, walking swiftly over to two of the vampires.

"Eric. Neil."

"Shadow." They replied as one voice, not out of any mystical link but just coincidence, which was unusual. In Shadow's experience the odds against two people speaking simultaneously and not having some kind of mystical bond were astronomocial.

"Do you really think you can climb it, it's practically a sheer rockface?" Shadow asked doubtfully, he wasn't a bad freeclimber but he knew his limits and the lift shaft was way past said limits.

"It'll be a tough job fur cer'ain but I'd give 'im decent odds. Providing the bastards dun't drop the lift on us." Neil said, Eric nodding in agreement.

"Which of you wants to go first then?" Shadow asked, pleased at their confidence.

"He does." They chorused, pointing at each other. Shadow wasn't sure whether to be amused or worried.

"We'll argue this later." Shadow said calmly before walking over to the prisoners who'd been quick enough to grab a gun from the dead Reapers, handing back firing pins as he appropriated a weapon of his own. He was quite fortunate in that respect, none of the guards on the other shift had a katana and Rashel and Holly had been kind enough to leave it for him, Rashel opting for a brutal looking kukri, a form of curved dagger, and Holly, an elegant sickle, the weapon rather denoting it's previous owner's origins as a revolutionary peasant of rural Japan.

With the familiar weight of a blade at his hip once more, Shadow walked back over to Knuckles who had managed to punch through the door and was ripping it open with the help of Nite and a few other werewolves. Outstrengthed and outnumbered the door was soon pulled from it's frame. Grinning like an idiot Knuckles stepped back as Neil sidled across the lip of the doorway and took a grip on the rockface, the werewolf's strength allowing him to simply squeeze the grip until it provided a decent handhold. Holding carefully he began to punch the rockface until he had an indent he could grip. A second handhold, all of thirty centimetres higher than the first, and only another four hundred metres to go. Despite the speed Neil was working even Shadow's most optimistic estimates put it as a whole eight hours before they made it to the top.

As Neil began the third handhold there was a thud from above, the werewolf only had time to look up as the lift pulverised it's skull, driving him the other couple hundred metres to the bottom of the shaft and out of sight.

Shadow leaned out, safe now the lift was gone. There was a large bloodstain to his left where Neil had been as well as his forearm and hand still gripping the rockface where the impact of the lift had been enough to simply shear it off.

Still, with the lift out of the picture, Shadow could now accelerate his escape plan somewhat.

"Looks like you're up Knuckles."

The shapeshifter nodded, it's arm stretching in a long cord of some fibrous substance Shadow couldn't indentify, the ropey material climbing up the rockface with ridiculous speed as it simply stuck to the near-smooth surface before finally anchoring itself to the top. Evening the other shapeshifters were astonished at the ancient shapeshifter, a true master of it's art, disappearing up the rock face as a rope for all to use.

With a grin Shadow took a grip on the rope and shimmied up.

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"You sent him to get killed." Holly accused, her eyes glinting with anger. "You knew."

"Suspected. It's what I would have done afterall." Shadow said, accepting her reproach and admonishment with his usual acceptance and calm.

"You never would have done that before. Sent another to die. You're changing."

"People change Holly. It's part of life."

"I'm not sure I like what you're changing into." Holly breathed to herself, her voice incredibly soft but not quite soft enough to escape Shadow's sharp hearing.

"If that's how you feel then you won't have to see me again once we're out of here." Shadow said before stalking off.

* * *

><p><p>

The ascent has been quick and the escapees had emerged from the lift shaft before the Reapers had time to reach it, the disadvantage of believing something is truly 'inescapable', you tend to not leave guards outside it.

Now with nearly a hundred of the deadliest fighters ever to grace the face of the planet, and only deadlier for their incarceration, loose in the facility the Reaper response was fractured as they struggled to cope with tracking down and killing the prisoners; their political value now ignored.

It was about a quarter of an hour after Shadow's chilly exchange with Holly that he found the exit. And it was guarded, very guarded in fact. Which was expected, after all while the Reapers may have been struggling to locate the various escapee groups but they weren't stupid either.

But they also weren't Shadow. Now he knew they were there he would soon deal with them. Grinning at the prospect of combat he rolled out the corner, levelling the rifle he'd looted from a Reaper he'd come across at the ranks of Reapers who's guns were already coming up, but they just weren't fast enough as Shadow was on one knee and had the weapon braced against his shoulder as he emptied the clip.

The rifle was pretty high powered and the recoil severely bruised his shoulder, almost dislocating it by the time the gun began to click emptily, the magazine's rounds spent. It didn't matter, the bullets had done their job, not a single Reaper was left standing, the Reaper had obviously known his weaponry as the rounds had clearly had explosive tips if the damage was anything to go by. Even vampires and werewolf's couldn't withstand that sort of injury.

Reasonably pleased with himself, Shadow collected a second katana. Neither weapon had the balance of his own blades but that was his fault, getting used to the balance of just his own swords had put him slightly off his game, he'd have to correct that error once he got out. Tossing aside the rifle, the weapon was just too loud, heavy and powerful for Shadow's tastes, the firearm equivalent of wielding a sledgehammer. Searching through the corpses Shadow found some weapons more to his preference. A pair of sleek knives were removed from a werewolf's sleeves, the wriststraps taken as well as he attached them to his forearms, a silenced colt 45 was also taken along with an automatic pistol, Shadow's far more compact version of the assault rifle.

Having weapons again was a wonderful experience as far as he was concerned, for months it had felt almost like he'd been walking around in the nude.

Back to normal – almost – Shadow eyed the door out longingly, the sunlight blazing down outside. Then he turned around and walked back into the complex, he had unfinished business to attend to first.

* * *

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"Come on Shadow! We've got to go, now!" Holly shouted.

"I can't go with you. Not yet." Shadow said, a tear falling down his cheek, Holly had always been the only person who could bring him to tears.

"We've got maybe ten minutes till more Reapers turn up. Come on!"

"I'm just going for a walk. I may be some time." Shadow said, realising it was unlikely he'd ever get a chance to use the quote, or any other quote in fact, again.

"He'll catch us up Holly, won't you?" Rashel asked for Holly's sake, both recognising the quote and realising what Shadow was planning. Quietly the vampire slayer took the vampire's hand and began to drag her away but not before Shadow gave his parting words.

"Remember I love you Holly, never forget that."

As Holly realised the implications and began to struggle in earnest as the last few escapees, Nite, Nyx and Quinn also amongst them, subdued her, picking her up and carrying her away.

Tears pouring down his pale cheeks Shadow took one last look at what was now the starry night sky, and, knowing deep down that he would never see it again, walked back into the facility.

There was someone he needed to kill.

* * *

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Author's Note: Yeah I know I promised a mega fight scene but it will have to wait until the next chapter, after all this one is twice the typical chapter length and I've simply run out of steam. Considering I only post on Thursdays now and I kind of missed my deadline (terribly sorry about that), hopefully I can accompany this chapter with at least one from my other fics.

Also kudos to anyone who gets the quote.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: I realise I've got a lot to live up to considering I've been advertising this as the fight scene to end all fight scenes, still whether I succeed or not is up to you. Also just a minor hint... there's a bit of an unexpected twist involving Holly.

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He found her on the third floor. In the canteen. He couldn't say he was surprised, it was probably the most logical place for a last stand. Well that wasn't entirely correct, the best place for a last stand was somewhere where noone would find.

Still with only one entrance - as far as Shadow could tell - it was defensible if not escapable. And extremely well guarded. It seemed even The Rose had doubts as to her ability to defend herself against the mob that had been unleashed.

Using a blade as a mirror he used it to glance round the corner. Reapers, at least twenty, far too many to take on in hand to hand, or a gunfight for that matter.

Temporarily stumped, Shadow let his gaze wonder until it settled on a corpse. His smirk was purest malice as a plan unfolded neatly in his head.

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A Reaper rounded the corner, sprinting and almost completely out of breath. Panic in his eyes he almost ran straight past the squads of Reapers guarding the door, their guns levelled at him until a sergeant stopped him.

"What's going on?" He demanded.

"Shadow..." He panted, "this way... gotta warn..."

"Don't worry..." The sergeant looked at his uniform for identifying markings, "Private. We'll deal with the Shadow."

This didn't reassure the distressed Reaper who grabbed the sergeant's combat webbing with both hands and lifted him off the floor. "It's the Shadow. We're dead. We are soooo dead. Gotta warn the Rose. He said to warn the Rose and he'll let me live."

And with that he was gone, straight through the door and slamming it shut behind him leaving the sergeant to stare bemusedly down the corridor as his squad made ready to repel the infamous Shadow.

At which point the C4 now attached to his jacket exploded.

* * *

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Shadow's steel grey eyes met The Rose's emerald gaze.

With a morbid sense of ceremony, swords slid from their sheathes. Shadow's katanas, their weight unfamiliar to the professional killer but still more than usable in his hands, moved to a guard position as the two began to circle each other, just testing each other's defences. The canteen floor was clear, the benches stacked neatly against the wall. Clearly she'd been expecting him.

Shadow watched the tip of her falchion as she shifted her line of attack, the muscles of both fighters tensed to spring at the slightest hint of an attack.

Shadow blurred forwards, the Rose's sword came around to block. As the blade whistled past where Shadow's katana should have been, the surprise was clear in The Rose's wide eyes as she fell for the feint. The two blades swept through her neck in a smooth crosscut.

For a few second she remained standing before falling to her knees, the impact causing her head to simply roll forwards to Shadow's feet.

Like Perseus with Medusa, Shadow grabbed the head by it's hair and lifted it up before staring deep into the empty eyes.

"What a waste." There was no sadness in his voice as he tossed the head aside and stepped over the corpse, it's lifeblood still pumping out of severed arteries.

Shadow felt... robbed. There was no other words for it. It was almost as though something had been taken from him, it was disappointing. He'd always lived for the fight, never the kill, and the anticlimatic fight was robbing him of the adrenaline high he'd been soaring on less than a minute ago.

Staring at the stainless steel food counter, Shadow's mind wandered back to the squad outside.

It had been easy to pretend to be out of breath and with panic in his voice they'd bought his barely coherent tale without question. All too easy.

There was only one challenge left for him, then all that would remain would be for him to kill The Rose's coconspirators and he would finally be able to retire. Possibly.

Shadow licked his dry lips as his gaze wandered back to the still bleeding corpse.

"You can come out now." He stated.

A lone figure rose from behind the counter, it's guns blazing, the rapid percussion of automatic PDWs.

Shadow had already leapt to the side, his blades falling to the floor as his silenced pistol replied in kind as he dived to the floor.

Every single shot hit the figure in the chest, Shadow was good but even he wouldn't have put money on being able to shoot someone in the head at ten metres whilst going to the floor.

The vampire slayer didn't come out unscathed though. At least four of the shots caught him in the chest and another ripped a shallow wound across his forearm, nothing really damaging but Shadow could already tell it was going to be a bleeder.

His body armour, 'kindly donated' by a Reaper he'd come across earlier, absorbed the torso shots, although Shadow was pretty sure they cracked a rib and he knew for certain that in half an hour his chest was going to be just one big bruise – if he survived.

There were three dull clicks as the clips ran dry. The hooded attacker discarding their guns as a longsword was drawn, it's handle was the much loved hand and a half variety that the more agile fighters tended to favour.

Shadow reloaded instead, getting to his knees and firing again, emptying the clip at their head. Shockingly Shadow missed. The gun was thrown at the attacker as he went for his katanas.

The handgun was cut in two by a casual swing of the longsword but the distraction provided the time Shadow needed to get to his feet. A standoff now inevitable.

"How did you know?" A feminine voice asked.

"Intuition mostly." He answered calmly, his gaze trying to pierce the darkness beneath the hood and just managing to catch the half-smile that formed on shadow obscured lips.

"Just intuition?" She inquired soothingly.

"That and a few details here and there. And the two obvious flaws."

"Obvious flaws?" She asked.

Shadow almost replied but saw the tensing of muscles beneath her body armour and blocked the cut and countered with a quick stab which was parried, forcing his blade downwards as she lunged forwards, hoping to take advantage of the brief opening.

Shadow span out of the way, using the movement to slice at waist height with his other blade.

She simply stepped backwards, out of range.

A brief pause in the combat.

"You're a vampire." He stated.

"And?" Another brief flurry of blows, culminating in the Shadow elbowing her in the stomach whilst he received a sword hand to the chin.

Wiping blood from his lip Shadow watched her, waiting for the next attack. "And that..." He indicated the corpse, "is still bleeding."

"Oh, that is embarrassing. Next time I'll hire a vampire instead." She feinted a cut on his left. Shadow simply stepped backwards. The message was quite clear: If she wanted to kill him she'd have to bring the fight to him.

"And the other flaw?" She asked sweetly.

"You're my soulmate. I'd know if you were dead."

"Oh is that what this annoying feeling is?" The Rose demanded, things finally making sense to her.

Shadow didn't respond with words, instead launching an all out attack on her only for his blades to be met each time. The deadly rhythm of steel on steel.

Last time they'd duelled Shadow had been outmatched, this time they were almost even. Almost.

Shadow brought his blade hard against The Rose's longsword, her wrists tensing as the impact was absorbed. And then the second blade drove against it, ripping it from her hands.

The principle of the move was simple, as long as the grip was loose, only flexed when the swords connected, then the movement remained smooth and the impacts were absorbed. But with the grip completely solid it was simply a matter of force to remove it from her hands.

Still The Rose wasn't to be underestimated and, throwing caution to the wind, she dive tackled Shadow as he recovered his balance from disarming her, forcing the slayer to the floor, far too close for the katanas to be of any use.

Shadow let the blades go before he even hit the floor, bringing his legs up and driving them into her stomach as he landed. A grip on one of her arms allowing him to guide her over the top of him where she impacted heavily against the tiled floor.

A human, any human in fact, would have been winded, The Rose though simply tried to gouge Shadow's eyes out with her nails, the slayer having used their combined momentum to roll on top of him.

Shadow was forced his face away in order to keep his vision but she soon stopped as he forced a forearm against her neck. Unable to see, there was no finesse here, just a brutal attempt to crush her throat. Still it took most of her strength to pry his arm off, Shadow's extra leverage more than neutralising her superior strength.

With both hands gripping his arm, The Rose tried to pull it straight so she could force the armlock. The only problem was that The Shadow had had a similar idea, grabbing one of her arms and using his weight to force it down onto the floor so he could break the elbow with an ude-garame as well as break the wrist with the wristlock – the latter illegal under judo rules but with his life at stake Shadow wasn't overly concerned.

The result was something of a stalemate as they each slipped out of the grips, their flexibility paying off. Shadow went for a sleeper hold and got it easily, only to smashed off as The Rose punched him in the nose, the open handed punch didn't kill him, the angle not quite right to drive his nose into his brain, but still enough to knock him off of her.

The Rose was quick to reverse the situation, diving for him.

He wrapped his legs around her torso, the leg muscles strong enough to cause a lot of pain but not quite enough to break anything. But now The Rose had the extra leverage and her strength made choking him easy. Not the quick sleeper hold Shadow liked, a proper strangle designed to cut off air to the lungs. Shadow's nails, not particularly long, ripped her forearm and hand open trying to get her off but to no avail, slowly but surely he began to lose consciousness.

Desperately he clawed at her eyes and actually succeeded in popping one, the jelly-like substance squidging around his thumb as it entered the socket. The Rose screamed in agony but the grip didn't let up.

Truly getting desperate as black spots began to flicker across his vison, Shadow pulled a knife from an ankle sheath on his left leg, and stabbed her in the chest and stomach, the blade doing nothing as the kevlar spread the impact just like it had with the bullets earlier.

Shadow's vision finally faded.

"Uhhck." The Rose breathed the sound as the grip let up. A arctic grip squeezed his heart asShadow breathed deeply, sweet oxygen flowing into his lungs.

As his vision returned he stared into the empty sockets of The Rose's eyes, the greying, wrinkled skin beginning to brown and crack.

A figure rolled the vampiress' corpse off him and helped him to his feet, only for him to fall back down as the sudden need for higher blood pressure robbed his brain of oxygen again.

Twenty seconds later he rose to his feet again, this time unassisted. Tears rolling down his cheeks as he stared at The Rose's corpse. He hated himself for it, the show of weakness and that it was The Rose he was crying for, a fascist of the highest order. If anything he should have been celebrating.

"You shouldn't have done that Holly." He lamented.

"I had no choice."

"Yes you did. You should have let me die. She was my soulmate, it was my right to kill her or die by her hand."

"Life doesn't work that way, you know that." She admonished, not unkindly.

And he did know, which was why he didn't resist as she helped him out of the room.

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Author's Note: I hope I met your expectations. The next chapter is the epilogue, but don't expect any action.


	10. Epilogue

Author's Note: Alas dear readers we must now say a final adieu to Shadow and Holly. I'd like to give thanks to Paranormalcy and TinaX, my only reviewers but they have more than made up for the lack of other reviewers by their constant support and the sheer number of reviews they've submitted, both in this arc of Shadow's saga and the previous. Now it's time ladies and gentlemen, for the last epilogue of the trilogy

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Shadow grinned, the familiar taste of blood in his mouth, almost unconsciously licking his lips, savouring the metallic tang of the iron.

Still grinning like a madman he beheaded the werewolf, looking disdainfully at what had been his lunch. Calmly he sat down at his desk, buzzing the intercom to the office's reception.

"Ash, could you please send someone to clean the office. And you'll have to find a different venue for my three o'clock, also could someone please rustle me up some new sandwiches, mine have been... bled on." That said Shadow sank back in his chair, the leather surface remarkably untouched by the arterial spray. Grabbing a tissue from a draw in his desk, dabbing at his split lip, the werewolf's uppercut had stopped just short of shattering his jaw but the surrounding tissue had been nowhere near as lucky, his own blood, the oh so familiar taste swamping his senses, was leaking into his mouth, forcing him to swallow periodically to avoid choking.

Shadow glanced at the clock, one pm, there was nothing in his schedule for at least half an hour, the rather aborted meeting having been intended to take up the time. He wondered if Holly was busy.

There was a knock on his door. "Come in." Beneath the desk two shotguns mounted on swivels were swung to face the entrance, the fingers tight on the trigger.

Nite entered, carrying a plate of sandwiches. Shadow relaxed. "Nite, this is unexpected, what brings you to my humble abode?"

The stoic werewolf nodded towards the sandwiches he'd just put down on the desk. Shadow laughed amiably although the humour never reaches his eyes, the steely gaze of the grey orbs seldom warmed by anything.

"Nite, you're a professional killer with a political reach I've come to envy, discard the subtlety and just tell me why you're here." That was one thing Shadow had taken care to cultivate over the last year, speaking bluntly and honestly. He found it put other politicians off, something about being against the spirit of the whole thing.

Nite paused for a small moment, "I've come to cash in a favour." There was a definite sense that he was choosing his words carefully.

"Fair enough, if anyone's bloody well earned it it's you." Shadow conceded, a slight smirk crossing his features. "Well go on then. Let's hear it."

"A... situation has arisen between two of the werewolf clans and uh..." Nite stopped as Shadow listened intently, noting the unusual worry in his fellow former escapee's voice. "There may have been a _slight _complication with the negotiations and... well..."

"Out with it Nite, I'm hardly going to judge."

"One of the werewolves _may_ have found their soulmate." Shadow honestly couldn't see how this was a problem. "and it just may have been the alpha of the other clan's daughter, aforesaid alpha may have then put a hit out on the other werewolf, the alpha being an old-fashioned, cantankerous bastard."

"Ah, you want me to sort out the alpha?"Shadow questioned.

"No, I want you to protect the other werewolf."

"Very well, but after this the slate's clean I hope?" Shadow asked, more for the sake of rhetoric than confirmation.

"Naturally." Nite replied, understanding Shadow's need for some mild melodrama, there was only so long you could listen to other people talking bullshit before boredom or near-homicidal frustration, took over.

"So who will I be protecting exactly?"

"Uh...me."

Ten minutes later Shadow walked out of his office, escorting Nite to the building's 'safe room', nothing short of one of Shadow's own plasma guns would be able to get through the thick walls and doors, the carbon steel far too thick for an oxyacetylene torch to be of use.

That minor problem dealt with Shadow walked back up to his office to inform his secretary to cancel his calls. Ash nodded, still cheerful despite circumstances cruel conspiracies. The vampire slayer, one of Shadow's chosen four, was confined to a wheelchair where a werewolf had snapped her spine.

It had been the only mission the four had managed, Sally and Dan had bought it in the first two minutes, Ash and Nick had been lucky to escape with their lives. Still just because she'd been robbed of her legs didn't mean she was harmless. Beneath the desk two shotguns had been released from a strong grip, the swivel mounted guns deadly at short range.

Shadow glanced at the clock, he was bored and simply didn't have the patience to mediate yet another trade agreement. Still that was one of the miracles of being the boss, despite Shadow's huge independent streak, his ventures into politics had taught him the value of delegation.

So, with only minor guilt, he got Nick to cover his meeting, although it had taken a reasonable sized bribe to persuade him, not that Shadow minded. He made a point that his two former proteges were looked after. In one of those fantastic inevitabilities the two had begun dating, still tentatively by the time Shadow escaped but now with great fervour. More than once Shadow had been forced to simply walk out of the armoury to avoid an awkward situation.

Still, with his schedule free for the best part of two hours, Shadow turned his mind to having a bit of fun. He wondered what Holly was doing...

Holly was having a bad day. The deadline for the Mk9. PLR was coming up in less than a week, and, unless a miracle happened, as far as she could tell, there was no way to lower the weight any further without compromising the gun's integrity, and a gun that could be bent in half by an overly firm grip was no use to anyone.

Scowling furiously she grabbed her latest design plan and ripped it in half, scrunching the paper into a ball and tossing it in an already overflowing paper recycling bag, before returning her attention back to the blueprints she was currently sure of. This time she tried decided to go for a different tact, instead of trying to lower the weight she would try and increase the firepower. She pondered whether using a ruby as the centre piece for the focusing array would be a good idea. Typically it would be far too expensive, but the gun wasn't intended for mass production, only a few hundred would ever be created for Shadow and his employees. Grinning at finally making some headway, she wrote down the alteration. Holly went to grab the budget sheet, on the off chance the specs she'd just jotted down were over the exorbitant budget, when she felt warm lips on her neck, gentling biting into her neck, just enough to leave a rapidly fading mark, as strong arms enveloped her torso.

"Hey beautiful." The line was cornier than words could express, and cliched enough that you could probably trace it's origin back through the last two ice ages, but that didn't matter, Shadow meant every syllable and with that level of adoration no amount of cliches could spoil it.

She tilted her head back, giving better access to her neck as Shadow kissed his way up it, a romantic parody of the typical predator-prey relationship between the species. It was odd in a way that even she only thought of him as Shadow, one day she'd get around to asking him what his real name was; if he even remembered.

But none of that mattered as she turned around to bring her lips to his, questions could wait, the deadline could wait, she was sure she could persuade her boss to push the deadline back, somehow.

Nick sighed deeply, burying his head in his hands before noticing the stares from the negotiators.

Shadow owed him big for this. Really big. Although, considering everything Shadow had done for him and Ash since Shadow's escape, it was probably more of a case of him no longer owing Shadow.

There was something about the minutiae of a business meeting that left the logical mind faced with a choice between homicide or suicide. With great difficulty Nick quelled the impulse and returned his attention to the meeting he was mediating.

Elder Nyx stared down at her paperwork, her eyes glazed over. Sometimes, for example on the rare occaisions when the pile of requisition forms, overtime forms and health and safety assessments managed to stack over a metre high, she wished she was back in The Jail.

The Jail, even now that was what they called it, usually, the place had no names, was on no maps and as far as paperwork was concerned had never existed. Paperwork not existing, now there was a concept she could appreciate.

One of the communiques caught her eye.

To: Elder Nyx (Circle Midnight)

Cc: Elder Nite, Daybreak Council,

See me, my office, tommorow, 4pm.

From: Elder Shadow

Short and to the point, and exceptionally paranoid, the latter showing Shadow was more than equipped for life as an Elder, plus the prison break had earned enough kudos from the political prisoners that he would be an old man by the time he called in all his favours.

Holly had never seen Shadow quite so nervous before, though she wasn't surprised. Shadow, for all his combat prowess and cool headedness, had never been one for mixing with the public. Other fighters yes, but to her it seemed that he could never find any common ground to talk about. The resulting awkward silences were embarrassing all-round.

"I'll have the uh..." He was still staring at the menu, the waiter growing slowly impatient. "Uh... um... the uh... salad please."

Holly chuckled to herself, Shadow had never been one for fancy meals and so the menu for such an expensive restaurant must have seemed almost in another language.

"I'll have the O-negative." Holly said smoothly. She was also slightly tense, Shadow wouldn't have asked her here unless he was planning something. Still, patience was a virtue.

Thirty minutes later said virtue was running out, the meal had been quite good but Shadow silence throughout was starting to get to her.

"Uh... Holly?" asked an almost tentative voice.

"Yes?"

"Um... you know I'm going to get old right?"

Holly's 'well duh' expression spoke volumes.

"And you can choose not to?"

Holly's expression remained unchanged.

"I know I've got no right to ask but uh... would you be willing to... uh... grow old with me?"

Holly's eyes widened as the implications of what he was asking. "Of course I would." Making the commitment without a second thought.

"Thankyou. That makes this a lot easier. Holly; I'd like you to make me a vampire."

Author's Note: And voila, barring the one crossover I'm writing, that's it for Shadow's saga, please review.


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